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The new oil law allowing foreign oil companies to compete with Pemex passes the Senate in Mexico and now goes to the lower house. The legislation removes the 4 oil worker union's representatives from the 15 person Board of Pemex. The oil law now leaves only a 10 member board- five appointed by the government and five independent members approved by the Senate. Because past opening of investment by the private sector in state owned railways and telecom sectors has led to wealth passing into the hands of a few business owners and worsening competitiveness, there is concern in Mexico about how this law will be implemented so that it benefits Mexico and Mexicans through foreign investment in the oil industry. Leftist parties are pushing a bill in the lower house to allow a referendum on the oil law by 2015 if 1.6 million signatures are collected. Oil experts point to foreign investment in the Mexican oil industry as further enhancing the prospects of North American oil production in comparison to the position of Middle East oil producers, because of Mexico's large shale oil and gas reserves and the prospects for new exploration in deep waters. ...

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Among the influential voices raised against the war in Afghanistan are former secretary of State Colin Powell and Senators John Kerry and Reed. Powell met privately with the President. Others skeptical that more troops will make adifference, are Vice President Biden, Rahm Emmanuel, and General James L. Jones. Clinton and Holbooke are on the other side of this debate. The first decision to add 21,000 troops to bring force level to 68000 was made hurriedly within weeks of Obama coming to offiCE. Powell's advice to Obama is the most significant because of his long experience. "The question the President has to answer is, What will more troops do? You have to not just add troops . You need aclear definition of the mission." The ideas revolve along the really crucial question of will more troops make a difference?

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Legislation advanced by Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois would allow bankruptcy judges to lower principal and interest rates on mortgages and extend the loan period. Of 10 million homeowners who are having trouble making payments new bankruptcy law changes would help 800,000 troubled borrowers keep their homes, according to Mark Zandi, chief economst at Moody's Economy.com. With the government's loans of $45 billion to Citigroup it has more leverage on key banks in the banking industry. As a result Citigroup which had earlier opposed the change in bankruptcy laws to make this possible has now changed its stance. Vikram Pandit Citi's CEO stated yesterday that "we support its swift passage."

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Russia's largest companies in metals like nickel, iron ore and aluminium, may end up in state control by the end of the year as the government is loaning money to these companies. These companies owe billions of dollars to state controlled banks and foreign banks and are heavily in debt. This would be a reversal of something that started with the loans for shares under which tycoons like Potanin got control of state assets in metals companies, in exchange for loans to the state. A company that will combine the assets of Norilsk Nickel, UC Rusal, and OAO Metalloinvest is being formed, with the state taking alarge minority stake at the initial stage.

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The Fed's Term Asset Backed Loan Facility (TALF), by which the Fed would give money to banks on very favorable terms to loan out to others including hedge funds who would go out and buy consumer loan backed securities, has barely made it off the ground. Its vital if consumer loan markets for everything from cars to other products is to get off the ground. The large layoff and job losses are a result of the lack of credit to finance purchases creating unneeeded manufacturing capacity, with the ensuing job losses only exacerbating sales. Investors worried about defaults have stayed away from consumer loan backed securities. The figures tell the story. According to Dealogic only $3 billion of these asset backed securities were sold in Jan-Feb 2009, down from $1 trillion in 2006. The TALF has alimit of $200 billion for the early stage, but could grow to $1 trillion as more asset classes are added. There are only about 10 deals in progress but most of them are on hold. Nissan Ford Credit and Huntington Bank are preparing to sell securties backed by car buyers. The outcry over bonuses at AIG, makes investors wary of public outcry if they were to profit unduly from the TALF, and hedge funds don't like some of the language in the agreements they have to sign with the gbanks and the Fed that would have them liable for losses, and by stimulus legislation that restricts use of foreign workers....

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How do you fix America's coporate boards of directors. Spread risk oversight over different committees. Get board members who will question the staus quo, and get a different mix of directors skills that will help do this. These are ideas from a report by the National Association of Corporate Directors.

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Chrysler under Cerberus looks likely to throw out old ideas about how the company should be run. For example whats the right size for Chrysler and how many models and sales levels and the domestic focus. a lot of these ideas may go out the window to try to get the company to operate successfully. Expect a smaller company fewer but better models, and an international focus, at sales levels way below that in the past. Profitability matters old conceptions will be tossed out.

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Public perceptions in the USA of China are changing. Today 42% have unfavorable views of China vs. 39% tha have favorable views of China from survey results released in August by the Pew Research Center. This is a change from 2007 when 42% polled had a positive view of China and 39% a negative view. Things that have changed since then are the Tibet riots and China's strong reaction, the issues of contaminated Chinese products entering the USA market and the nationalism in China on the eve of the Olympics. The last touches McCain and his senior advisor on China, Michael Green of Georgetown University, who finds the Chinese reaction on issues like trade to be cocky but cocky to the point of being arrogant. His comment "the combination of arrogance and insecurity can be dangerous." Green was on the National Security Council under President George W. Bush. McCain and Green want to bolster trade relations with other Asian countries like India to help the USA strengthen its bargaining power with China. McCain wants to strictly enforce trade agreements with China including blocking unsafe products from China. The shift in opinion in the USA at a time when there is a shift in opinion in China to a nationalistic tone sensitive to criticism of China even when it concerns issues like Tibet which do not affect any vital interests of China should be seen as significant. This is happening at the same time as a candidate like McCain who has less tolerance for Russia and a similar position for China is running strongly for President and has the experience and support of most Americans on foreign policy issues. Its useful also to see that the figures given here show 60% of Russians seeing China in a favorable light and only 30% in an unfavorable light. And when you look at France and Germany, 72% in France and 68% in Germany see China in an unfavorable light, only 28 and 26% respectively having a favorable opinion. Britain is an exception because 47% of the British public has a favorable opinion of China, only 36% having an unfavorable view. The figures are from Pew Research Center polls of 4,257 adults in he five countries conducted in March and April (international views)....

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Wal-Mart has removed same store sales as a metric on which managers and executives are measured for performance based compensation. As a result CEO Duke sees his compensation increase in the last fiscal year from what it would be under the previous arrangement. Same store sales have declined for seven consecutive quarters at Wal-Mart. The new metric used instead of same store sales is total sales, which increased 3.4% in the last fiscal year. Duke's compensation was $18.7 million, of which $16 million was performance based, for the last fiscal year. Morgenson asks if Wal-Mart executives are being opportunistic when it comes to setting the metrics for performance based compensation.

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The WSJ editorializes on McCain's plan to take over American mortgages and issue new ones at 5% and 30 year term to help stem foreclosures and stabilize home prices. WSJ editorial points to taxpayers having to shoulder all the costs under this plan and lenders and those who made bad decisions among homeowners not having to pay a price for their decisions.

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Bowler Jayant Yadav, batsmen Mayank Agrawal and Shreyas Iyer, show India's incredible bench strength in cricket, says Abhishek Purohit in the Indian Express. Axar Patel was good at both bowling and batting. Every so may years these players get chosen for a Test Series and keep their skills in a state of readiness. Yadav was playing in a Test after 5 years in the second Test against New Zealand, at Wankhede stadium, where India won by its biggest margin- 372 runs. Captain Virat Kohli says of these players that to play Test cricket one needs "passion and intent" and Indian cricket is in safe hands when you have so many players who are eager to play Tests well.

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Trump DJT efforts to seek discussions and agreement with Russia and China yields results in Israel- Iran war. Biden's single focus on Ukraine that put Russia at a distance, and failure to build dialogue with sincere disagreement with China as DJT has done, can be seen as a failure of US obligations as a world power. The DJT approach gives Russia and China an opportunity to reflect on their obligations as world powers, to their people and the people of the world, so that they pursue national aspirations keeping this always in mind uppermost.

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How quickly the wind's direction has changed. For decades since 2000 American companies moved operations to China for manufacturing upto a point where there was over concentration and risks in the supply chain seen during the pandemic and as US- China relations diverged on issues such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, Ukraine. This report looks at the US companies shift to looking for ways to shift operations to India, Vietnam and other locations.

In an annual survey 30% of American Chamber of Commerce in China companies out of 360 respondents are shifting their operations for manufacturing to other countries from China. About 25% of tech and R&D companies said they had already begun moving their supply chains out of China.